Growing Roots and Producing Fruit
By Laura Lindsey
Growing a garden takes patience, consistency, availability, and motivation. When you decide to start a garden you have to plan out all the details. Where it will be located, how much sun it will receive, water intake, and soil. The biggest takeaway I have had growing a garden the past few years with my husband has been the health of the soil. You can’t expect much just digging a hole in dirt without analyzing the soil, adding compost, and finishing with topsoil to enrich it. Last year’s summer garden didn’t produce very well. We harvested potatoes and tomatoes but the rest just withered from lack of water, bugs, and pests getting in the garden. We weren’t consistent in checking it every day, we didn’t prepare the soil well, and we didn’t water it enough. On top of that our pesky chickens thought it was their garden to enjoy. It was pretty pitiful by the end of summer.
The past few months we have been prepping the garden beds and mapping out where the plants will go. Some plants need more sun than others. Some like to grow on a trellis, and others need deeper soil. We have mixed in compost and peat moss, and worked on building a better fence to keep chickens out. We have implemented seed starting, which has taught me to be consistent and given me a buy-in to keep it going. I check my sprouts everyday, make sure the grow lights are on, water them every 2-3 days, and have been hardening them off.
Our heart and relationship with Christ is like a garden. We have to be motivated to spend time with him, be available to his leading, and consistently in the Word. Sometimes (maybe a lot) we have to be patient to see growth or to hear from Him but practicing these disciplines always produces growth. One way I have been able to be consistent is by using a daily devotional. I love all of the devotionals that The Daily Grace Co. offers. Currently, I am reading through the “New Every Morning” daily devotional. There are gorgeous pictures and encouraging truths woven throughout with verse references easily found on each page. They offer devotionals on different topics and also studies on the different books of the Bible.
Another way I can thrive spiritually is through journaling out my prayers and thoughts. It allows me to process things and lay things down before God. I come away from this time thankful, refreshed, and lighter than I was before. There have been seasons where I didn’t practice this and I find myself out of focus, out of alignment, and like a parched and weary land. It’s hard to bear fruit when I am not communicating with God. When I am not allowing His Living Water to breathe life into my soul.
Some seasons I find myself more on a journey of discovery, feeding myself with Truth just as it is from the Bible. I want to dig and find new bits of knowledge to deepen my roots in the faith. If you are looking for more theological concepts and educational study I highly recommend The Theology Handbook. It covers many topics such as Theology Proper, Bibliology, Anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, Pneumatology, Ecclesiology, Angelology, and Eschatology. You will learn things you have never heard of or really considered, and be challenged to be grounded in what you believe and why you believe it.
Now I know you’re wondering how busy women and moms do this…I am not perfect at this. I find spare moments when my kids are busy, playing outside, or during my “mandated” rest time for them. Many times I do my study and prayer after they have gone to bed. It looks different depending on what season we are going through. Playing a podcast, listening to music, all of these outlets can bring you closer to God and give you tools to use in your walk with the Lord. Bearing fruit comes with giving God your best and first. Allow him to work in your life and give him priority. Being creative is key in each season. Your schedules change, children change, and our life circumstances change. What I have learned is you have time for what you make time for.
So, go find fresh seeds, get nutrient rich and healthy soil, and water consistently. Your garden will grow and bear much fruit.
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the very end of the age. "
